Richard Jordan

Richard Jordan, born Robert Anson Jordan Jr. on July 19, 1937, in New York City, was an American actor whose career spanned Broadway, film, and television until his death on August 30, 1993. His father, Robert Anson Jordan Sr., was from Boston, Massachusetts, and his mother, Constance, née Hand, was a New Yorker whose own father was Learned Hand, a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Jordan's parents divorced in 1942, when he was five, and his mother subsequently married Newbold Morris, president of the New York City Council, in a ceremony officiated by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia at Gracie Mansion — the first marriage performed there. Jordan attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, and graduated from Harvard University in 1958, after which he pursued further study at the Universite du Theatre des Nations in Paris. He adopted the professional name Richard to avoid confusion with another actor named Robert Jordan, though close friends continued to call him Bob throughout his life.

Jordan made his Broadway debut in 1961 in Take Her, She's Mine, alongside Art Carney and Elizabeth Ashley. During the same period he began appearing in television productions, including episodes of The Defenders, Naked City, Ben Casey, Empire, and The Wide Country. His Broadway work continued with Bicycle Ride to Nevada and, in 1966, Generation, in which he appeared with Henry Fonda at the Morosco Theatre. He also appeared on Broadway in A Patriot for Me, with his stage work on the Great White Way spanning the years 1961 to 1969. Alongside his Broadway career, Jordan was a long-standing member of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, performing in productions of The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, and As You Like It at the Public Theater.

Jordan made his film debut in 1970, with Lawman and Valdez Is Coming, both released in 1971, the latter starring Burt Lancaster. He appeared opposite Robert Mitchum in two films: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), in which he played a pragmatic U.S. Treasury agent, and The Yakuza (1975), in which he played the bodyguard of Mitchum's friend George Tanner. His film work through the mid-to-late 1970s included the western Rooster Cogburn (1975), the science fiction adventure Logan's Run (1976), and Woody Allen's drama Interiors (1978). In 1979 he appeared in Old Boyfriends alongside Talia Shire, playing the father of his own daughter, Nina Jordan, who portrayed his character's daughter in the film. In 1976, Jordan received a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of Joseph Armagh, an Irish immigrant who rises to power and wealth, in the television miniseries Captains and the Kings.

His film career continued into the 1980s with Raise the Titanic (1980), Flash of Green (1984), Dune (1984), The Mean Season (1985), and The Secret of My Success (1987). On television, he co-starred in The Bunker (1981), playing Albert Speer opposite Anthony Hopkins's Adolf Hitler, and stepped into the lead role of The Equalizer for ten episodes in 1987 and 1988 while series star Edward Woodward recovered from a heart attack. He also appeared in The Hunt for Red October (1990) as U.S. National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt, and starred in the television production Three Hotels (1991).

Jordan remained active on the stage throughout his screen career. He wrote, directed, and performed in Venus of Menschen Falls (1978) at the L.A. Actors' Theatre, where he worked alongside Ralph Waite. He won an Obie Award for his performance in Václav Havel's A Private View in New York in 1983, and received an L.A. Drama Critics' Award for directing Havel's Largo Desolato in 1987. In 1989 he appeared in Romero, playing Father Rutilio Grande, and in 1990 he directed a production of Macbeth in New York City.

Jordan's final film work included Posse (1993) and Gettysburg (1993), the latter filmed during the summer of 1992. In Gettysburg he portrayed Confederate Brigadier General Lewis "Lo" Armistead, one of the officers who participated in Pickett's Charge. Producer-director Ronald F. Maxwell dedicated the film to Jordan and to Michael Shaara, whose novel The Killer Angels had served as the basis for the screenplay. Jordan had been cast as Dr. Charles Nichols in The Fugitive but was forced to withdraw in April 1993 due to illness and was replaced by Jeroen Krabbé. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and died on August 30, 1993, at the age of 56, with his daughter Nina and his companion, actress Marcia Cross, at his side. A memorial was held in his honor at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles on October 8, 1993, the day Gettysburg was released.

Jordan's daughter Nina was born in 1964 during his marriage to actress Kathleen Widdoes, which lasted from 1964 to 1972. His son Robert Hand Jordan was born in 1983 during his nine-year relationship with actress Blair Brown.